A Bird and A Bee and Love of Creation

 I went all the way through Earth Week, including Earth Day without a Groundling blog post. I chose to offer that emphasis in my Lion Lamb blog, but it does some odd that I offered nothing here.

Yesterday we went for a walk in Prince Edward County, the area to the south of us which juts out into Lake Ontario. The County, as it's often called, has plenty of beaches and walking trails and a couple of provincial parks to explore. 

Before we left, early in the morning, I checked the emerging blossoms of a berry bush on our property and noticed a bumblebee at work. It was an encouraging sign because these bees which were everywhere in my childhood have become a rarity in Southern Ontario, likely because of pesticides and the loss of habitat. 

In PEC we walked a windswept beach where we were the only humans  and eventually sat for a cup of tea from a thermos, looking out to a lagoon connected to Lake Ontario. A flock of common terns on a sandbar suddenly took to the air, and when we looked up we saw a bald eagle drifting over. The terns had decided that discretion was the better part of valour and made a hasty retreat. Eventually the eagle made its way across the lagoon and landed in a tree.

It's wonderful to see large birds of prey such as eagles and ospreys which had become rare in our region a few decades ago, also because of a pesticide, specifically DDT. There are ospreys everywhere in our area now, including a number of urban nests in Belleville, and we see eagles several times a year.

Many people would be thrilled by the sighting of an eagle, and it was a highlight of our outing. At the same time, my spirits were lifted by that bumblebee which started our day. The diversity of our planet is essential to the health and wholeness of all creatures, including humans. 

Sad to say, we Groundlings tend to ignore the biblical directive to be loving stewards of Creation. to pay attention in a prayerful way, and to act with humility and purpose on behalf of all that lives.

 If every day is Earth Day, then we can choose to do so as God's people.